Nazi Gustav Gun

When it comes to massive weapons, nothing beats the Nazi’s Gustav gun for shear sized. Designed by Friedrich Krupp A.G. company of Essen, Germany, the gun was originally designed to help Hitler’s forces breakthrough the 1500km of fortifications of the French Maginot Line. In the end, it was never used for such as task as Hitler simply bypassed the line and invaded Belgium.

Finally finished in 1941, the gun was named after the head of the Krupp family, Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach.

Standing around 4-floors heigh, 20 feet wide and 140 feet long, the Gustav had a crew of 500 men, commanded by a two-star major general. Weighing in at a massive 1344 tons, it had to be partly dismantled before being moved – its weight was too heavy to allow the gun to roll along the twin rails tracks it was designed to sit on. Once dismantled for transport, it took 54 hours to setup again ready to fire.

The Gustav Gun's 800mm Round

The Gustav gun had a bore diameter of 800mm, or 31.5 inches, and used 3000lbs, more than a ton of smokeless powder charge, to fire one of its two different shells – a 10,584 lb. high explosive (HE), or a 16,540 lb. concrete-piercing round.

The immense weapon was also quite accurate and could hit targets up to 29 miles away with the HE round, while the heavier concrete piercing round could strike up to 23 miles away.

During its life the Gustav fired 300 shells on Sevastopol and 30 more during the Warsaw Uprising of 1944. It was then captured by Allied troops and used for scrap.Image Credit: Megapixie, 2005.